Hi Jennifer,
I am sorry you lost your female bird. You didn’t mention what happened, but I do want to mention that a cockatiel under a year old should not be breeding, much less already hatched chicks. The male should be a minimum of 18 months old and the female should be about 2 years old. when you breed them at a younger age, there are a lot of risks, one being the female really is not physically developed enough to withstand the stress of laying eggs and raising chicks.
For now, you need to keep these birds in separate cages. When the female is 2 years old, you can start to introduce them again. By that time, both birds will be physically and mentally mature enough to breed. If they do bond and hatch chicks, you will need to rest the parents between clutches by removing the nestbox for a few months.
Your male is still missing his mate and isn’t ready for another one anyway. And you should never put such a young hen in the same cage with an older male or it can trigger her to lay eggs when she is too young and it puts her at a high risk of egg binding. Your male should be OK over time. Just talk to him & offer him treats and toys to keep him busy. He may start to call to the young female and that is OK, but again do not cage them together until she is at least 2 years old.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
